Staff Receive Service Awards to Celebrate Milestones

A team of staff members collectively holding nearly 150 years of Berkeley-Haas experience have been honored in recent months for their service. Kathy Andrews, Dayna Haugh, and Alexis Kurland-Deeds have each been with Berkeley or the Haas School for 30 or more years altogether; Barbra Felkins has been at Haas for 25; and Christine Blaine, Jesse Paraiso, and Dhundup Tsering have been at Haas for 10 years.

For Andrews, Haugh, and Kurland-Deed, three decades at Haas have passed by pretty quickly, thanks to “great opportunities for growth and continuous learning” and a “wonderful sense of community.” Andrews, senior development director of leadership giving, says Haas “is an engaging environment where everyone has a sense of purpose and is given an opportunity to make a difference.” For Haugh, assistant director of the Center for Financial Reporting and Management, working with “great, creative people” in “an innovative environment” have made the difference

The Haas culture and its four Defining Principles have been important to the awardees as well. Financial analyst Kurland-Deeds says she most identifies with Question the Status Quo, “because I feel there are always better ways to do things.” Confidence Without Attitude resonates for Andrews: “Collaboration is extremely important to me and to our work, and I strive to make a difference without the least bit of arrogance.”

Service to students motivates a number of these staff members. Felkins, assistant director of academic affairs for the Undergraduate Program, recalls that after the shooting incident this past fall, counselors cautioned that students with trauma in their pasts might have particular difficulty dealing with the aftermath. Felkins made a point of reaching out to every student she knew who might be vulnerable in this way. Her reward for such attentive care is watching “her” students walk across the stage at graduation and then getting to brag about them to their families.

For Paraiso, ECSM lab coordinator, satisfaction comes from “the smiles on students’ faces when I fix their computer problems. I feel like I have done my job whenever I have made someone’s day go a bit easier.”

You may think you know these longtime colleagues really well, but they hold surprises in store. Kurland-Deeds was an avid and fearless skier from childhood through college; Paraiso is a part-time wedding photographer and videographer; and Haugh just welcomed her second grandchild.

As for proudest accomplishments, Blaine sums it up with, “Getting a job here. Abby Scott took a chance and I have been eternally grateful ever since.”

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